Banana Coconut Smoothie

When I have a bunch of overripe bananas, they usually end up in a batch of banana bread. It’s easy to make – especially if you use my One Bowl Banana Bread recipe – and it is always a crowd pleaser. The problem with crowd pleasers is that it is helpful to have a crowd, particularly if you have enough bananas on hand for more than one loaf. A smoothie is always good fallback treat when you have some fruit in your kitchen that needs to be used up. I enjoy them as breakfast, an afternoon snack or as dessert, which means that I feel good about making this Banana Coconut Smoothie any time of day.

The smoothie is a simple one made with bananas, yogurt, milk and pineapple juice. The coconut flavor comes from cream of coconut, a sweetened coconut milk product that is often used in making smoothies and cocktails, like the Pina Colada. It gives the smoothie a great coconut flavor and adds just the right amount of sweetness, though you can supplement the drink with little extra cream of coconut if you prefer your drink to be a little extra coconutty. I added a little bit of pineapple juice for a hint of extra sweetness, which it added without turning this into a pina colada-flavored smoothie. Orange juice would also make a nice addition, if you don’t have pineapple juice in your fridge. Yogurt gives the smoothie some body without making it overly thick or turning it into a milkshake – though I admit that ice cream would be an excellent substitute for the yogurt if I really wanted to turn this into a dessert drink. Â As it stands, the smoothie has just the right thickness to make it satisfying without making it heavy, and it has a great balance of flavors. I guess I’lll be saving a few extra over-ripe bananas for the blender, and not just banana bread, from now on!